Infertility Cards from 417 Press

In this, the unofficial year of the woman, women in stationery are playing an essential role in pushing away meaningless cultural platitudes in favor of more honest, authentic dialogues. Just check out The Infertility Cards from 417 Press — instead of having to hear worthless and sometimes hurtful cliches from well-meaning friends struggling to find “the right thing to say,” they enable greeting cards to do what they’re actually supposed to do: Support loved ones in difficult times.

417’s Michelle Secondi explained the origins of this letterpressed quartet. “Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive or carry a pregnancy to full term. Approximately 15 percent of the population of reproductive age is affected by infertility, and about 7.4 million women overall have received infertility services in their lifetime. Yet the grief associated with infertility is often misunderstood. The emotions that go hand-in-hand with infertility are ugly. Every passing month is a cycle of determination, hope, anxiety, frustration and sadness. Worse, when it comes to infertility and pregnancy loss, nobody knows what to say or do.

“I’ve been there. I bet you know someone who is going through it right now (it might even be you). Inspired by my own journey, we’ve got four new letterpress printed greeting cards that tackle infertility head on. Let’s start the conversation and end the silence.”

They’re as gorgeous as they are genuine, no? Shop them all here for $5 a pop — and if you’re going to National Stationery Show, you can see it all for yourself in 417 Press’ booth #1646!